Share This

Iceberg Economies and Shadow Selves

Iceberg Economies and Shadow Selves

by Rebecca Solnit

The fierce affection and determination that sustains life is more essential than market forces to the economic iceberg below the waterline.

After the Macondo well exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, it was easy enough (on your choice of screen) to see a flaming oil platform, the very sea itself set afire with huge plumes of black smoke rising, and the dark smear of what would become five million barrels of oil beginning to soak birds and beaches. Infinitely harder to see and less dramatic was the vast counterforce soon at work: the mobilizing of tens of thousands of volunteers, including passionate locals from fishermen in the Louisiana Oystermen’s Association to an outraged tattoo-artist-turned-organizer, from visiting scientists, activist groups, and Catholic Charities reaching out to Vietnamese fishing families to the journalist and oil-policy expert Antonia Juhasz, and Rosina Philippe of the Atakapa-Ishak tribe in Grand Bayou. And don’t forget the ceaseless toil of the Sierra Club’s local environmental justice organizer, the Gulf Coast Restoration Network, the New Orleans-born poet-turned-investigator Abe Louise Young, and so many more than I can list here.

Without you, we can’t continue to give Salt Lake City quality independent journalism and content. We’re dedicated to providing a unique, eclectic and creative publishing presence in Salt Lake City, but we need your help. Moreover, we cannot continue to expand our services (i.e. the Clean Air Solutions Fair and the Pollination Festival) without community support!